1.13.2006

A treat to go with your Friday the 13th movie fest

Philip and I are no longer buying microwave popcorn. While we both love popcorn, the microwave stuff has way too many chemicals for us to ingest. We bought some organic popcorn kernels at the co-op and started making popcorn on the stove top. After a little trial and error we have mastered the art of popping corn in a saucepan.

Perfect Popcorn

2 Tbsp. canola oil3/4 cup organic popcorn kernels

In a 5-quart saucepan with lid, heat the oil over medium high heat. After about 3 minutes, add popcorn to the oil and cover the pan. When you hear the first pop, start shaking the pan occasionally to prevent burning. When the pops stop, remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl and add whatever popcorn toppings you like (margarine, nutritional yeast, salt, sugar, etc.)

Makes a whole lot of popcorn

Many recipes will tell you to start off with the kernels and the oil together in the pan, but we found that always burned our popcorn. After several attempts I tried heating the oil first and like magic I had fluffy popcorn that was perfectly done. We made several batches this way to make sure that it wasn't a fluke and we got the same result every time. From start to finish this recipe takes about 8 minutes, only slightly longer than microwave popcorn and much tastier.